When will Obama drop his new cynical charade about being a federalist on gay marriage?

posted at 2:41 pm on May 24, 2012 by Allahpundit

Remember, the fine print in his big “evolution” announcement a few weeks ago was that he was merely stating his personal opinion on SSM, not ushering in a new federal policy. Leave it to the states, he said, to handle this issue. But that too was a charade and I noted it at the time. If you follow his and Holder’s logic in opposing DOMA, which has been public knowledge for 15 months, the Equal Protection Clause does/should require legalized gay marriage in all 50 states no matter how many ballot initiatives banning the practice pass. He’s using “states’ rights” rhetoric to hedge on his, ahem, change of heart simply because he fears the political consequences of calling on federal courts to impose gay marriage coast to coast via the Constitution.

Despite his comments that he thinks the matter should be left to the states, many gay rights advocates strongly believe that it must be dealt with nationally — and that Obama is quietly on their side. Conservative critics of the president suspect the same, citing this as one way the president might tack left if reelected.

And some Obama supporters who are uncomfortable with same-sex marriage fear that in a second term, he would come under enormous pressure to back efforts to impose the legalization of such unions at the federal level…

In particular, they are worried that the president’s preference for state-by-state recognition will give way to the view that same-sex marriage is a guaranteed right under the Constitution. That issue is at the heart of a case that could come before the Supreme Court in its term beginning in October: It involves Proposition 8, a voter-approved California constitutional amendment that bans gay marriage.

Obama opposed Proposition 8. But if the court accepts the case, it could ask the administration for its view on whether marriage is a fundamental right that cannot be withheld from gay couples. Such a finding could sweep away state decisions on same-sex marriage, as well as the bans in 30 state constitutions.

The administration could, and probably will, simply stick with their DOMA argument, which is that gays are a historically persecuted class and therefore laws that discriminate against them should receive “heightened scrutiny” from federal courts. (I wrote about this last February when their new position on DOMA was announced.) When a court applies “heightened scrutiny,” it will find the law in question unconstitutional unless the state can offer some very compelling justification for upholding it. In theory that’s possible but in practice laws subject to that degree of scrutiny are always struck down. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, that’s the core argument being made by Ted Olson and David Boies in their legal quest to get the Supremes to strike down Proposition 8. It’s an equal protection matter, therefore minority rights trump majority will — coast to coast.

Point being, for all his states’ rights blather, Obama and his DOJ are already legally on the side of people who want gay marriage legalized nationally by judicial order. As I’ve said before, I think that’s a grave strategic mistake at a moment when national polls already show majority support for legalizing SSM. If the courts intervene, gay marriage opponents will feel cheated and their opposition to the practice will concretize. If the courts stay out of it, more American teens will come onto the rolls over time and the pro-SSM side will likely start winning ballot initiatives. In fact, thanks to O, they may win one easily sooner than expected:

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Maryland finds a significant increase in support for same-sex marriage among African American voters following President Obama’s historic announcement two weeks ago. The referendum to keep the state’s new law legalizing same-sex marriage now appears likely to pass by a healthy margin…

The movement over the last two months can be explained almost entirely by a major shift in opinion about same-sex marriage among black voters. Previously 56% said they would vote against the new law with only 39% planning to uphold it. Those numbers have now almost completely flipped, with 55% of African Americans planning to vote for the law and only 36% now opposed.

Not the first poll to show movement on this issue among black voters after O’s announcement, but the acid test will be the referendum itself. I wonder what impact it’ll have on Obama if it passes. Will he double down on the federalist position, on the assumption that more (blue) states will legalize SSM on their own over the next few years or will he read it as enough of a turning of the tide in opinion that he might feel safer calling for a national solution in his second term?

Exit question one: How happy do you think purple-state Democrats would be to have O publicly endorse coast-to-coast gay marriage by judicial order, even in his second term? Exit question two: If the Court asks the DOJ for its opinion on Prop 8 in October, will Obama push the states’ rights line even though it contradicts his DOMA position or will he be consistent? Consistency on this issue could be dangerous with the election so close at hand.

Blowback

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Exit question two: If the Court asks the DOJ for its opinion on Prop 8 in October, will Obama push the states’ rights line even though it contradicts his DOMA position or will he be consistent?

My prediction is the Court won’t ask as Prop 8 has no bearing onrights. Prop 8 really does one thing, states that CA can not use the term Marriage with regards to a same sex unions. That’s it. I predict SCOTUS agrees with the people of CA, upholds Prop 8 and kicks the question of rights down the road.

However this issue shakes out over time I don’t think you will ever see a SCOTUS ruling which states a state or the Federal government must use the term marriage for same sex unions.

The whole gay marriage flap is a huge negative for Obama. Despite this… almost all of the latest polls are disturbing. Obama is winning virtually everywhere, and only behind by 2 in North Carolina? See what I mean, see the polls today: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/

Romney has to change the way he’s doing things, or lose. Stop playing a “prevent defense.” His tepid approach spells defeat. Get dirty, it’s a very minor negative to be considered a negative campaigner… it is much more important to tar and feather the opposition relentlessly. A minor negative for you, a massive negative for the opposition (Obama). Get dirty, abandon pretense. Grow a pair, as they say.

And this election is NOT about the economy. An important distinction: it is about an out of control reckless intrusive govt. Treat that as the main issue, the economy is a subset of that.

I don’t see how SCOTUS could possibly find an argument for marriage as a federal government issue. There is no “federal” marriage license and no mention at all of marriage in the Constitution. Marriage has always been entirely a state issue, and should remain such. States are the only entities that have ever sactioned marriage, and the federal government has only ever based legislation pertaining to marriage on those whom each state has recognized as married couples.

If the Court asks the DOJ for its opinion on Prop 8 in October, will Obama push the states’ rights line even though it contradicts his DOMA position or will he be consistent? Consistency on this issue could be dangerous with the election so close at hand.

Inconsistency has never seemed to bother him. I doubt committed Obama voters will switch because of this.

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Maryland finds a significant increase in support for same-sex marriage among African American voters following President Obama’s historic announcement two weeks ago. The referendum to keep the state’s new law legalizing same-sex marriage now appears likely to pass by a healthy margin…

If he would’ve grown the .. let’s say courage … to admit his support for gay marriage 4 years ago who knows how much further along gay rights would be? The one issue that actually could’ve benefited from a little hope’n’change, in the middle of a slam-dunk election, and he couldn’t take a stand for what he believes in.

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Maryland finds a significant increase in support for same-sex marriage among African American voters following President Obama’s historic announcement two weeks ago.

How about a poll among all voters in Oklahoma or Nebraska? What about polling African-Americans in Indiana? Quit cherry-picking the polling (often with a very small sample-size) to support the pro-gay position.

If the courts intervene, gay marriage opponents will feel cheated and their opposition to the practice will concretize. If the courts stay out of it, more American teens will come onto the rolls over time and the pro-SSM side will likely start winning ballot initiatives. In fact, thanks to O, they may win one easily sooner than expected:

man, you try so hard to promote gay marriage..just keep trying, it won’t change votes..and gay marriage activists don’t care how it’s implemented on a federal level, they just WANT IT DONE BECAUSE IT’S THEIR CIVIL RIGHT!

Obama won’t feel any restraints if he’s re-elected..he will try for a gay marriage amendment in the constitution..he will try for amnesty…he will try for cap and trade again..he will cut more of our nukes..he will DESTROY OUR COUNTRY even more than he already has

Dr. Sam Vaknin, the author of the Malignant Self Love believes “Barack Obama appears to be a narcissist.”

Vaknin is a world authority on narcissism. He understands narcissism and describes the inner mind of a narcissist like no other person. When he talks about narcissism everyone listens!

Vaknin says that Obama’s language, posture and demeanor, and the testimonies of his closest, dearest and nearest suggest that the Senator is either a narcissist or he may have narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Narcissists project a grandiose but false image of themselves.

Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of People’s Temple, the man who led over 900 of his followers to cheerfully commit mass suicide and even murder their own children was also a narcissist. David Koresh, Charles Manson, Joseph Koni, Shoko Asahara, Stalin, Saddam, Mao, Kim Jong Ill and Adolph Hitler are a few examples of narcissists of our time.

All these men had a tremendous influence over their fanciers. They created a personality cult around themselves and with their blazing speeches elevated their admirers, filled their hearts with enthusiasm and instilled in their minds a new zest for life.

They gave them hope!! They promised them the moon, but alas, invariably they brought them to their doom.

When you are a victim of a cult of personality, you don’t know it until it is too late. One determining factor in the development of NPD is childhood abuse.

“Obama’s early life was decidedly chaotic and replete with traumatic and mentally bruising dislocations,” says Vaknin. “Mixed-race marriages were even less common then. His parents went through a divorce when he was an infant (two years old). Obama saw his father only once again, before he died in a car accident. Then his mother re-married and Obama had to relocate to Indonesia, a foreign land with a radically foreign culture, to be raised by a step-father. At the age of ten, he was whisked off to live with his maternal (white) grandparents. He saw his mother only intermittently in the following few years and then she vanished from his life in 1979. She died of cancer in 1995″.

One must never underestimate the manipulative genius of pathological narcissists. They project such an imposing personality that it overwhelms those around them. Charmed by the charisma of the narcissist, people become like clay in his hands. They cheerfully do his bidding and delight to be at his service. The narcissist shapes the world around himself and reduces others in his own inverted image. He creates a cult of personality. His admirers become his co-dependents. Narcissists have no interest in things that do not help them to reach their personal objective. They are focused on one thing alone and that is power. All other issues are meaningless to them and the! y do not want to waste their precious time on trivialities. Anything that does not help them is beneath them and do not deserve their attention.

If an issue raised in the Senate does not help Obama in one way or another, he has no interest in it. The “present” vote is a safe vote. No one can criticize him if things go wrong. Those issues are unworthy by their very nature because they are not about him. Obama’s election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a contract and advance to write a book about race relations.

The University of Chicago Law School provided him a lot longer than expected and at the end it evolved into, guess what? His own autobiography! Instead of writing a scholarly paper focusing on race relations, for which he had been paid, Obama could not resist writing about his most sublime self. He entitled the book Dreams from My Father.

Not surprisingly, Adolph Hitler also wrote his own autobiography when he was still nobody. So did Stalin. For a narcissist no subject is as important as his own self. Why would he waste his precious time and genius writing about insignificant things when he can write about such an august being as himself? Narcissists are often callous and even ruthless. As the norm, they lack conscience. This is evident from Obama’s lack of interest in his own brother who lives on only one dollar per month.

A man who lives in luxury, who takes a private jet to vacation in Hawaii, and who has raised nearly half a billion dollars for his campaign (something unprecedented in history) has no interest in the plight of his own brother. Why? Because, his brother cannot be used for his ascent to power.

A narcissist cares for no one but himself. This election is like no other in the history of America. The issues are insignificant compared to what is at stake. What can be more dangerous than having a man bereft of conscience, a serial liar, and one who cannot distinguish his fantasies from reality as the leader of the free world? I hate to sound alarmist, but one is a fool if one is not alarmed. Many politicians are narcissists. They pose no threat to others…They are simply self serving and selfish.

Obama evidences symptoms of pathological narcissism, which is different from the run-of-the-mill narcissism of a Richard Nixon or a Bill Clinton for example. To him reality and fantasy are intertwined. This is a mental health issue, not jus t a character flaw. Pathological narcissists are dangerous because they look normal and even intelligent. It is this disguise that makes them treacherous.

Today the Democrats have placed all their hopes in Obama. But this man could put an end to their party. The great majority of blacks have also decided to vote for Obama. Only a fool does not know that their support for him is racially driven. This is racism, pure and simple. The downside of this is that if Obama turns out to be the disaster I predict, he will cause widespread resentment among the whites.

The blacks are unlikely to give up their support of their man. Cultic mentality is pernicious and unrelenting. They will dig their heads deeper in the sand and blame Obama’s detractors of racism. This will cause a backlash among the whites.

The white supremacists will take advantage of the discontent and they will receive widespread support. I predict that in less than four years, racial tensions will increase to levels never seen since the turbulent 1960′s.

Obama will set the clock back decades… America is the bastion of freedom. The peace of the world depends on the strength of America, and its weakness translates into the triumph of terrorism and victory of rogue nations.

It is no wonder that Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, the Castrists, the Hezbollah, the Hamas, the lawyers of the Guantanamo terrorists and virtually all sworn enemies of America are so thrilled by the prospect of their man in the White House. America is on the verge of destruction. There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological narcissist as president.

When you are a victim of a cult of personality, you don’t know it until it is too late.

“To the extent that people are pathologically narcissistic, they can be controlling, blaming, self-absorbed, intolerant of others’ views, unaware of others’ needs and of the effects of their behavior on others, and insistent that others see them as they wish to be seen. ambitious and capable, the inability to tolerate setbacks, disagreements or criticism, along with lack of empathy, make it difficult for such individuals to work cooperatively.”